I'm looking into starting an AAU/Club team next season with the goal of building it into a program with teams at several levels to compete during the AAU/Spring seasons in the future years. Next season would be year 1, with one team and we'll try to grow from there.

I'm looking for a brainstorming session here to throw out some catchy, neat names for this organization.

I'm in a northeast region along the shores of a Great Lake. So some of the ideas I've had would be to begin the name with "North East" or "North Coast".

Some actual team names I've thought of so far include: Bounce, Drive, Breakers among others.

So let's here them....what are some of the catchy program names you can come up with? Feel free to include color scheme if you want.

Thanks!

I always preferred animal names. Preferably animals that function as a team. Wolves are always what comes foremost to my mind.

One idea is to come up with a word that describes the value or characteristic you want in your club. What sets you apart? What is your identity? Then look up words that imply that characteristic.

For example, if "hard working" is the biggest thing you want to emphasize in the program, you can find words that imply hard working...

Blue Collar
Grinders
Honeybees
Badgers
Etc.

You may not like those examples but you get the idea. You can also take pieces of that word, combine them, and so on to make a new word that sounds tough or hard working.

If you use two words, have them rhyme or use alliteration. That makes the name more memorable and catchier.

I'm not very good at the creative part. But maybe these ideas stir something for you.

(Your City Name or State Name) + Premiere, Elite, Chaos, Soldiers, Crush, Ice, Flyers, Storm, Force, Defenders, Fury, Shockers. Select, Attack, Impact, Rage, Fusion

The Force, Team Elite, Team Chaos, Team Supreme, And One, Dogs of War, Team Bang, Team (your city or state), Team Impact, Team All Out, Ambush

Could come up with an acronym for a team name. If you decide to use the word "Team" as part of your name, that could stand for: Together Everyone Achieves More

T.N.T. Today Not Tomorrow

Team AH (Aim High)

You get the gist of this, you could almost pick out any word you think defines your club and come up with an acronym for the players to remember why that is their name.

Love it. Thanks guys.

To go in a different direction here.....

What types of things do I need to be taking into consideration if I'm trying to start my own "club" or "organization"? My ultimate goal years from now would be to have teams at multiple age groups.

I'm thinking more from the legal/red tape side of things. I know if I register it as an AAU club then I'm going to be covered under their insurance. But it seems to me that they want their clubs to be non-profit organizations and I don't know if I want to go that route.

If I don't affiliate through AAU, I assume it would be best to carry my own insurance, which means I should probably take the proper steps to get the program setup as it's own entity.....LLC or Corporation.

Does anybody have experience with this type of stuff that would be willing to play the role of guidance counselor a little bit? We can take it to email or whatever if you'd prefer.

Thanks!

I can't offer much advice on the ins and outs of the legal process because I've never set up an organization of teams.

There isn't much money in coaching teams. I know some people that have led "Nike Elite" sponsorship programs and contrary to popular belief, they don't make much money from the teams. A lot of them have to do fundraisers and what not to be able to afford travel.

Most people have to get in the tournament and training business to make ends meet ethically in addition to running their organization.

I was just throwing that out there because you deserve the right to make a living. And the time requirement for developing an organization, in my eyes, isn't worth the money or the headaches, unless you have a different vision beyond coaching teams.

If it's me... I coach a team for fun and I make my living doing something else. I'm just lucky my something else also has to do with basketball.

I've also talked to some people who consciously make their living outside of basketball, so they don't get burned out on something that they love to do. I can relate to that as I've had to personally take breaks.

I have a day job and I don't envision ending that. So this would be done out of my love of this game and teaching it to our younger generations and developing players.

I'd love it if my "something else" eventually had to do with basketball too. But as for now I'm stuck in an office for 8-12 hours a day depending on the time of year. So getting out on the court and interacting with players is always a breath of fresh air for me!

I think the most challenging aspect of a club/league at the AAU level would be the logistical piece. I had my own "club team" of sorts, but didn't have to deal with any other team but mine. That alone was challenging as we were on our own with regards to everything from uniforms and funding to finding consistent places to practice. That can be tough if you're not connected to someone who has access to gym time at a reasonable price.

My first piece of advice is to write out a business plan for the club team. What is the goal of this organization? Who is the competition? Things like that. Obviously, you'd need to attract good coaches and have some type of marketing plan to get the word out.

I'd call around to a few club teams that you wouldn't be a threat to (outside your city or area) and see if anyone could give you some tips. No sense in reinventing the wheel.

Sounds like a good long term goal.

Rob, good advice.

There is a very reputable program about an hour from my area that I was thinking of contacting to get some info and any tips. The guy who runs it seems like a good guy, I've had a few interactions with him this past year. So hopefully he wouldn't mind offering some advice. I'm just outside of the his zone too, so I don't think he'll see it as a threat. Our area is a bit untapped on the girls basketball side of things.

The town I live in has decent rates for gym rental. My wife and I are pretty active within the schools and recreations departments so we have established relationships with most of the people we'll need to go through in terms of prices, scheduling, etc. when it comes to court time.

I guess the biggest pieces of the puzzle will be making sure we can get solid commitments from enough players. I'm looking to cap the roster size at 8. And I'm thinking we're going to have to at least collect half of our fees from players up front so we can cover tournament costs, uniforms, etc. We also have a connection with a local apparel company, so it's possible we can negotiate some favorable payment terms when the time comes. Fundraising/corporate sponsorships in our area for this type of activity has always been next to impossible. One thought I had was to solicit local businesses for sponsorships and we can maybe put their names on our shooting shirts or something like that so we're out advertising for them. But I don't want it turning into a minor league baseball fence or a racecar!

When it comes to "recruiting", how soon is too soon to start working on commitments for next season? I will at least wait until our current tournament season is finished in mid-May. Then I was thinking of reaching out to some of our possible targets, either directly when possible or contacting their travel coach to gauge whether they know if there is any interest from players on their team. I've established a good relationship with a long time travel program director in the area over the last two years, we've coached against each other a handful of times and there is a good mutual respect for each other when it comes to the jobs we've done with our teams. I'm hopeful he'll be a help in maybe steering a couple of his players our way for AAU.

I've never been much of a people person and I'm not really a fan of social settings and all that interaction, but I guess it's going to be needed.